Pakistan has beaten Afghanistan as the nation with the most mass terrorist attacks and death in South Asia, the annual Global Terrorism Index report disclosed by the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace stated. Pakistan listed the second-largest jump in terror-related deaths worldwide last year. The count increased significantly to 643, a 120 per cent increase from 292 deaths in 2021. The loss of people in Pakistan represented the most significant year-on-year increase in the previous decade. The report says that due to a significant increase in fatalities, the sixth position on the index has been attained by Pakistan, mainly in military personnel who constitute a minimum of 55 per cent of all victims of terrorism. 

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) was accountable for 36 per cent of terror-connected deaths in Pakistan, which was a direct nine-fold surge from the previous year. According to the IEP report, the BLA has recently overtaken Tahreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) also known as Pakistan Taliban, which they recognised as the deadliest terror outfit in Pakistan. The BLA’s lethality figure has escalated to its highest level with attacks killing 7.7 people per attack in 2022, compared to 1.5 per attack the previous year. In 2022, there were a total of 233 deaths associated with BLA, and the majority of them, specifically 95 per cent, were soldiers. 

The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) is claiming to be resisting and fighting for independence for the Balochistan province adjoining Afghanistan and Iran. On the other hand, Pakistan, the United States and the UK have designated both the TTP and BLA as terror organisations. As per the Global Terrorism Index report, the lethal attack attributed to the BLA in 2022 took place when its gunmen bombed and hit two separate security check posts for the Frontier Corps in February last year. Even though no official death count was confirmed, the BLA claimed that they were responsible for the strikes and that they had killed 195 military personnel in both attacks. 

According to the Global Terrorism Index, the majority of terrorist activity is still focused on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where 63 per cent of attacks and 74 per cent of fatalities occur. The report suggests that the overall rise in deaths across the country can be attributed to the escalating terror activities of groups such as  TTP and the Islamic Khorasan. The TTP has been waging terrorist attacks against Pakistani security forces to seek an Islamic Sharia-complaint state like the radical Taliban have established in Afghanistan. 

The Afghan Taliban has a branch known as Pakistan Taliban, which is closely allied with them. The Pakistan Taliban’s leaders and commanders are situated in Afghanistan and they are believed to plan acts of terrorism across the border from there. The Islamic State Khorasan has carried out numerous attacks along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. These attacks occurred primarily in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), followed by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and c. In 2022, the deadliest attack by  ISK in Pakistan took place in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where a suicide bombing during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque resulted in the deaths of at least 56 people, as noted in the report.